Dying detectives and a morning at the theater...

During the week of December 15-19 we read drama, discussed drama, and saw it performed at the theater.

Early in the week, students got a taste of Sherlock Holmes when they read The Dying Detective, a play in which Holmes is featured. The Dying Detective is a short play based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story, "The Adventure of the Dying Detective". Students broke up into groups of 4-5 and read the script aloud. Following their group reading, they discussed topics such as Holmes's creative methods of catching criminals, the props that would be necessary to stage this play, and the purpose of the play's stage directions. The Dying Detective is the first of two plays we will read in class as part of our drama unit.

On Wednesday we braved the sleet, snow, and chilly temperatures and traveled to the Berklee Performance Center in Boston to take part in the theater experience and watch five plays put on by the Chamber Theater, a national touring company that performs adaptations of short stories for middle and high school students.

Below is a list of the plays we saw. The plays that are written in bold type are short stories that we read in class in anticipation of our trip to the theater.

• "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
• "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
• "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
• "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
• "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain

If you haven't done so already, check in with your child to see how he or she enjoyed the theater.

Returned Assignments

Open Response #1 (a 20-point assignment) about the characteristics of a short story was returned to students this week.  Students evaluated their own work and reflected on the areas where they succeeded and the areas where they could improve.

Have a safe and happy holiday! See you in 2009!

Changing moods, beating hearts, and Ray Bradbury...

During the week of December 8-12, we wrapped up our short story unit and started our drama unit.

We began the week by changing the mood of a setting. This assignment started the week before when students received a picture of a scene in nature and described it in paragraph form by using active verbs, precise adjectives, and their senses. When they got their paragraphs back they looked for a sentence they wrote that evoked a distinct mood. Then they determined the specific mood of the sentence and changed it by manipulating some of the "mood" words. I think Edgar Allan Poe would have been impressed with how some students' settings transformed from being sunny and cheery to dismal and dreary!

Speaking of Edgar Allan Poe, we read one of his short stories, "The Tell-Tale Heart", together in class (complete with me pounding on the desk while reading to simulate the beating heart that is a key part in Poe's classic) because we will be seeing it performed next week at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston during our class field trip.

Our class reading of "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury produced some great debate at the end of the week. Topics ranged from the pros and cons of modern technology to questions about whether we could ever part with our favorite electronics like MP3 players, cell phones, and personal computers.

We ended the week by beginning our unit on drama. Students took notes on terms that we'll be referencing throughout our drama unit like stage directions, scrim, and backlighting.

Returned Assignments

Students got back two graded assignments this week. The descriptive paragraph (20 point assignment) and a verbs quiz (15 point assignment) were both returned. Feel free to check in with your child about both assignments. 

First time blogger!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It has been a pleasure getting to meet with all of the families who have attended parent conferences so far, and I look forward to meeting with many more of you during the parent conferences scheduled for 2009.

During these conferences, I've heard a similar concern among parents. Some of you have expressed that you are beginning to feel out of the loop when it comes to your child's academics. You may not be seeing the assignments your child completes nor hearing about what he or she accomplishes in school each day.

In an effort to keep you updated, I've created a blog devoted to Team 7-1 English/Language Arts class.

A blog is a web site on which an individual or a group posts information on a regular basis about a specific topic. In the Team 7-1 English/Language Arts blog, which will be updated weekly, I'll post information about the skills your child has practiced and the content that has been covered in class each week. Upcoming events and due dates for long-term assignments will be listed as well.

While this blog may not answer all of your questions about English/Language Arts class, my hope is that it will act as a conversation starter for you and your child about the work he or she is completing each week.

Thanks, and see you on the web!

-Mr. Niles